New (or old) model 1858 Beals Patent help

[ChrisH]

I am new to the forum and helping my father with some research on some firearms. Help with the following would be much appreciated.

I am trying to find out more, including manufacture dates etc. (and possible value) about the following:

The pistol is a 6 shot percussion type and refers to the Beals patent of Sept 14th 1858. It is .36 calibre. I am unsure of whether is it a Beals mode, old model or new model. The following are its distinguishing features:

Serial number appears to be 10893 (located under the loading lever on the barrel)
Front sight is the silver cone type.
I don't think there are safety notches in the cylinder (if I correctly understand what they are)

Probably not relevant ot this forum but of interest to us because we are in the UK and don't know much about it - the gun was purchased with a holster bearing the mark: Lanz Owen and Co, Illinois. Is it likely to be as old as the gun?

Thanks in advance.

Chris

[john hamilton]

Here is a web page for a Lanz holster. http://www.cwslagleantiques.com/view_de ... 75&id=3172

Also, "Old Model" serial numbers ran from about 3,000-19,000 while "New Models" ran from 15,000 to 147,000.

Beals models had the barrel threads hidded in front of the cylinder. In other words the barrel went all the way back to the cylinder. The new model and old model had some barrel threads showing. Navy models had mostly silver cone front sights for all three models.

Yours is probably the Old Model Navy. You didn't mention any small inspector marks so it was probably the civilian model.

[Mike Strietbeck]

I believe that the serial number range listed earlier was for the Army Model. the following information relates to the navy Model and would indicate that you have a Beals Navy Model. Verification by looking for exposed barrel threads is proper. The Beals model(s) will not have exposed barrel threads between the front of the cylinder and adjacent frame surface. Existance of final government inspection marking (grip cartouche) would verify U. S. Government purchases, and lack of it owuld indicate civilian purchase, unless it was one of the 4,586 pre-war existing Beals’ Navy revolvers purchased from civilian dealers.
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Data from my files on U. S. Government purchases of these revolvers during the Civil War.

In all, 4,586 Beals’ Navy revolvers were procured for the Western Theater troops from dealers between August 1861 and May 1862.
Concurrently, between August 1861 and May 1862, E. Remington & Sons sold 7,250 Beals’ Navy revolvers directly to the War Department, at $15ºº each. In all, nearly 13,000 Beals’ Navy revolvers were in Federal service by the summer of 1862.
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Month Year Approx. S/N Range U.S. Government Purchases

MAR. 1862 10000 - 11500 Contract of July 29, 1861


As is always the case, we will not be able to assist you in establishing the value of your firearm, but would recommend that you research recent auction and sales results compared to a like quality firearm.

Thanks go out to Don Ware for all of his years of research on this subject, and to John Hamilton for leading us to C. W. Slagles site for information on hte holster.

Hope this helps,

Mike Strietbeck